AC 6829 - The Darkness of Temptations and the Light Afterwards

AC 6829

When a man is in temptation,
he is beset round by falsities and evils
which impede the influx of light from the Divine,
that is, the influx of truth and good,
and then the man is as it were in darkness.
Darkness in the other life is nothing else
than being besieged by falsities,
for these take away the light
from the man who is in temptation,
and thus the perception of consolation by truths.
But when the man emerges from temptation,
then the light appears with its spiritual heat,
that is, truth with its good,
and from this he has gladness after anxiety.
This is the morning
which in the other life follows the night.
The reason why good is then perceived,
and truth appears,
is that after temptation
truth and good penetrate toward the interiors,
and there take root.
For when a man is in temptation,
he is as it were in hunger for good,
and in thirst for truth;
and therefore when he emerges
he draws in good as a hungry man devours food,
and receives truth as a thirsty man imbibes drink.
Moreover, when light from the Divine appears,
falsities and evils are removed,
and when these are removed,
the way is opened
for truth and good to penetrate more interiorly.
These are the reasons why after temptations
the good of love appears with its light from the Lord.
That after the obscurity and anxiety of temptations,
brightness and gladness appear,
is known to all in the other life,
because it is there a common occurrence.